


Lady With a Bowl of Violets/Oil on Canvas/102 x 76 cm/Lilla Cabot Perry/1910

by bijective



Series: Art throughout the ages: Real and Imaginary [5]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:22:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28692393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bijective/pseuds/bijective
Summary: The best way to understand an artist is to stand in front of their artwork for as many hours the artist has spent or baring that at least a minute.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: Art throughout the ages: Real and Imaginary [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1908658
Kudos: 36





	Lady With a Bowl of Violets/Oil on Canvas/102 x 76 cm/Lilla Cabot Perry/1910

Nicolò appreciates art. Which is why he learned to preserve it. in the same vein he appreciates Yusuf who has the self preservation instinct of a new born foal imprinting on a carnivore. So Nicolò learns to protect him as well.

Later as Nicolò goes from ‘Bastard’ to Frank to Nicolò and finally to ‘my moon’; he also falls in love with Yusuf. With art it takes a bit more time. Several more centuries to get acquainted with all the intricacies of it. 

** Joe always maintained that there is art for everyone.  **

_ Andromache had scoffed while drinking some sort of moonshine when Joe had pointed out about cave paintings.  _

_ “Yeah… yeah…” _

_ Quynh had threatened to stab him in the bicep with an arrow for trying to extoll about Japanese silk paintings from the Heian Era. _

_ “The best art Yusuf is what you can kill with” she had said while showing off her new long bow, its wood notched with intricate patterns.  _

_ Sebastien had nodded along with Joseph as they discussed how to best forge a Caravaggio to fleece an unsuspecting English count.  _

_ “Just paint Nicholas naked and draped over some silk in candlelight.” Sebastien had opined rather unfortunately near Nicky’s hearing range. Joe had agreed a bit too enthusiastically. That had earned both of them expertly hurled garlic cloves aimed to their foreheads.  _

Nicky is grateful when Nile joins them. She shares Joe's enthusiasm for art as well as the curiosity to learn more. They spend hours the together discussing everything remotely related to art. 

Which is how Nicky finds himself in the midst of an energetic conversation about Impressionism and what counts as impressionist art while they roam the National Museum of Woman’s Art in Washington DC; the current argument being whether Manet was an impressionist or not.

He trails after the pair, absorbing the exhibition of American female artists both past and present. He stopped in front of a moderately large painting of a woman sitting in a room. His eyes flitted across the piece, the pastel light blue nightgown illuminated and reflective of the fire from the hearth cut off in the painting. A clever bit of show don’t tell or rather imply don’t show. The somewhat pensive look on her face. The subtle textured brushwork. The violets that were in the title of the painting but one had to search for. 

“Do you like this painting Nicky?”

Nile’s voice brings him out of his reverie. “Yes. Its quite lovely isn’t it?” He replies.

She peers at the inscription mouthing the words as she reads them. Like quicksilver she glances at him and asks, “Did you know her?”

They stand together for the few moments that it takes him to reply, surrounded by paintings made by a long dead woman, showing scenes of domesticity and her trips abroad, all charming with a lively, bright colour palette and delicate brushwork. 

“No I did not. I am just enjoying the painting.”

“Oh! You were staring at it for quite a while.”

“Yes, I’ve seen the painting almost five years ago. Today I’m trying to find something new.”

“Well I guess we now have all the time in the world to enjoy paintings.”

“Yes we do. Don’t we?” Joe replied, for Nicky, throwing an arm around her shoulder.

Nile hummed in assent looking up realising that there was a painting within the painting. A Japanese woodcut perhaps featuring a mother and a child. 

**Author's Note:**

> Lilla Cabot Perry was an American impressionist.
> 
> The featured artwork: https://nmwa.org/art/collection/lady-bowl-violets/
> 
> This is the last vignette for Joe and Nicky; not last for the series. There will be more!


End file.
